Believe it or not, the term United Nations was actually coined by Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in a bathtub. Churchill was in Washington over the New Year's holiday 1941-42 and the two men were struggling with what to officially call their alliance. The term alliance was unacceptable in a formal document because, according to Churchill, it posed constitutional problems for Roosevelt--evidently a formal alliance would require Senate approval. Neither liked the alternative Associated Powers.
信不信由你,聯合國一詞實際上是由富蘭克林·羅斯福和溫斯頓·丘吉爾兩人在浴缸中杜撰出來的。1941到1942年新年假日期間,丘吉爾正在華盛頓。他與羅斯福兩人在為為他們的聯盟起個官方的名字的事而爭執著。"聯盟"一詞在正式文件中不可接受,因為,按照丘吉爾的說法,它給羅斯福提出了一個關于憲法的問題--顯然,正式的聯盟需要得到議會的批準。他們兩人又都不喜歡"聯合政權"這一名稱。 英語作文網收集整理
On the morning of 1 January 1942, Churchill, who was staying in the White House, was taking a bath when Roosevelt knocked on the door, was wheeled into the bathroom, and proposed the term United Nations. Churchill instantly liked the term, recalling some lines from Byron's Childe Harold:
"Here, where the sword United Nations drew,
Our countrymen were warring on that day!
And this is much--and all--which will not pass away."
1942年1月1日的早晨,呆在白宮的丘吉爾正在洗澡,忽然羅斯福來敲門,他坐在輪椅上進入了浴室,建議采用"聯合國"一詞。丘吉爾立即喜歡上了這一名稱,他想起了拜倫的詩歌《查爾德·哈羅德》中的幾行詩句:
"在聯合國劍拔弩張之地,
當我們的同胞浴血奮戰之時。
這一切已經足夠,
這一切將永不消逝!"
Later that day Roosevelt and Churchill, along with representatives of the Soviet Union and China signed the United Nations Pact, pledging to fight Germany, Italy, and Japan to the last and to make no separate peace. Eventually twenty-two other nations signed the agreement and the name was taken later on for the post-war international organization.
那一天的晚些時候,羅斯福、丘吉爾與蘇聯、中國的代表一道,簽署了聯合國公約,誓與法國、意大利和日本血戰到底,締造永不分裂的和平。最終,二十二個其他國家簽署了這項協議。從此聯合國就成了戰后國際組織的名稱。